The NHL and NHLPA's last, best effort to avoid the sport's fourth work stoppage in 20 years was a telephone call. It didn't work.

And so it goes, with no real negotiations taking place for the third straight day and the midnight expiration of the collective bargaining agreement passing without much in the way of an official acknowledgement.

The lockout will be the third to hit a major North American sports league in 18 months, following ones in the NFL and the NBA.

Owners and players are stuck in neutral, largely because of disagreements over how to split the NHL's $3.3 billion-and-growing revenue pie. The league wants widespread salary cuts and refuses to pay the NHLPA anything approaching its current 57 percent cut—its last offer started at 49 and wound down to 47 percent. Players are proposing that they receive around 52 to 54 percent of revenue, tying that to a projected growth figure that the league disputes.

Other issues, like revenue sharing, contract rules and divisional realignment are essentially off the table until what the sides call "core economic issues" are settled.

“We spoke today and determined that there was no point in convening a formal bargaining session in light of the fact that neither side is in a position to move off of its latest proposal,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a released statement. “I’m sure we will keep in touch in the coming days and schedule meetings to the extent they might be useful or appropriate. We are sorry for where we are. Not what we hoped or expected."

Daly's words echo a statement released by NHLPA rep Steve Fehr, who added that he expected "private, informal" discussions to continue over the next few days.

The first preseason games are expected to be canceled next week, according to the Canadian Press, and the possibility of starting the regular season as scheduled on Oct. 11 dwindles by the day. Less tangible consequences, like potential adverse effects on fans and sponsors, will reveal themselves in time, though NBC Sports will pay the league its $200 million TV rights fee regardless of whether the season takes place.

Bettman insisted that management is determined, very simply, to pay players less, even if it forced another stoppage.

Players, in turn, believe the league should primarily address its financial problems by re-examining the revenue-sharing formula. Having made several big concessions to reach a deal in 2005, after the last lockout forced the cancellation of an entire season, the union doesn't think it should have to make more—especially considering the league's record financial growth.

After initially and destructively resisting the institution of a salary cap in 2004, the union agreed to take 57 percent of hockey-related revenues and accepted a 24 percent salary rollback. That deal, in Bettman's eyes, turned out to "more fair than perhaps it should've been," hence the league's initial attempt to, once again, roll salaries back 24 percent and cut players share to 43 percent. That offer has since been amended to the 47-to-49 range, and rollbacks have taken the form of an increased yearly escrow system.

On Friday, the Quebec labor relations board rejected a request from the players' association for a temporary injunction against a potential lockout in Quebec. But the board also ruled that more hearings are needed to make a final decision.

With the ruling, Canadiens players will be locked out with their colleagues, at least for now.

The NHLPA argued that because it isn't certified as a union with the province, its members can't be locked out under Quebec labor law.

A similar request was filed late Thursday with the Alberta labor relations board. NHLPA director of operations Alexandra Dagg said the aim was to prevent players from the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames from being locked out.

In Alberta, the union will argue that proper labor negotiating procedure wasn't followed, including using a mediator.

NHL players struck in April 1992, causing 30 games to be postponed. This would be the third lockout under Bettman. The 1994-95 lockout ended after 103 days and the cancellation of 468 games.

The most recent lockout was settled after 301 days and a month after the league would have awarded the Stanley Cup. It marked the first time a North American professional sports league lost an entire season because of a labor dispute, and the first time the Stanley Cup wasn't handed out since 1919, when a flu epidemic prevented a champion from being crowned.